Ways To Dine Well During A Downturn

Chefs who include the farm source in dish descriptions on their menus also make it easier for the quality-obsessed to replicate meals at home. At the Berkeley, Calif., restaurant Chez Panisse, for example, desert includes a bowl of mission figs and a Frog Hollow Farm Warren Pear for $8.25. But a six-pack of those same pears is available on the farm's Web site for $24.

Knowing When to Spend

Even if financial restraint is not a personal strong suit, there are ways to splurge wisely, including on "recession specials" and gourmet street food.

Amanda Kludt, editor of the Web site Eater.com, says that while Michelin-starred restaurants like Le Bernardin or Jean-Georges aren't likely to start slashing prices anytime soon, some fine-dining establishments are offering recession specials. Table 8, with locations in South Beach, Fla., and Los Angeles, is offering a "recession concession" meal. At the Florida restaurant, a kobe beef carpaccio appetizer, skirt steak entrée and vanilla panna cotta desert can be had for $42 instead of $60.

Kludt says she's received a glut of special offers lately, including ones for half-price bottle nights, reduced prix-fixes and Sunday suppers.

"Smart restaurant owners are seeing this as an opportunity to market their operations as affordable and sensitive to concerned diners," she says. "And smart diners will be able to see which deals are actually worth it and [which] will take advantage of them."

Those looking for wallet-friendly splurges also will be pleased to learn that scaling back doesn't have to mean trading down. Take, for instance, gourmet street food, a trend that's intensified in recent years as inventive chefs with years of experience--often in notable kitchens--have launched mobile eateries. While many are concentrated in New York, there are dozens across the country serving items like a Kobe-style burger on brioche with bacon jam, blue cheese and arugula or crème brulée with caramelized banana--all for prices that rarely go higher than $8.